City Council briefed on arena developments

The Seattle City Council was updated this morning on where things stand both with the constructing of a new arena in the city to house an NBA team, as well as preparing KeyArena to host a team as early as next season.

There were no actions taken and no real significant news.

Maybe of most note is that it was revealed that plans are being made to potentially have a team play at KeyArena for three seasons — from 2013-14 through 2015-16 — if necessary while the new arena is constructed. It was also noted that potential team owner and arena developer Chris Hansen would want to control KeyArena during that time and will make unspecified capital improvements to KeyArena beforehand.

Documents presented indicated an environmental review would be completed by November. Also, the official purchase price of the Kings by the Hansen group was stated at $525 million. something that has been often-reported but today was confirmed officially.